The Maryland Child Fatality Review Team is a state-mandated body that was established in Maryland by Senate Bill 464 in 1999. Local teams were established across the state and each must read and implement Maryland code as established in the law.

Child Fatality Review (CFR) is a means for communities to improve understanding of how and why children die; to influence policies and programs to improve child health, safety, and protection; and to prevent future child deaths.

Howard County CFR is a multi-disciplinary, multi-agency review team that works cooperatively with other state and local review systems. It is based on a guiding principle that the understanding of child deaths must be based on both qualitative and quantitative information from child death case reviews and observations.

The mission of FIMR is to improve the health of pregnant women and their infants by reviewing and identifying systemic problems, and making recommendations for change.

FIMR continually assesses, monitors, and works to improve community resources for women, infants, and families. The Howard County Health Department (HCHD) has been the lead agency for FIMR team since FY1998. The team consists of dedicated professionals and community members that meet on a periodic basis to review cases reported by the Maryland Office of Vital Records.

The FIMR process brings a community team together to examine confidential, de-identified cases of infant and fetal death. The purpose of the reviews is to understand how a wide array of social, economic, public health, educational, environmental, and safety issues relate to the tragedy of fetal/infant loss and to recommend actions to improve services and resources.